leg – Fenton Fitness & Athletic Center

Balance Building Blocks

January 27, 2020
Barb O
Health Information

Balance Building Blocks Over the last six months, Nancy had taken two tumbles. Fortunately, she had not suffered anything worse than a bruise on her hip and an injured ego. She brought in an advertisement for a balance training device and asked me if it would improve her balance. Nancy attended the gym three days a week and lived a fairly active life. After an evaluation of her balance, she was instructed on a series of drills that addressed her needs. No special equipment was necessary and she could perform the routine at home and at the gym. Four weeks later, Nancy returned for a re-evaluation and was happy to have improved on all of the balance tests. Nancy felt…

Vacation Workouts Made Easy–Part 5

December 3, 2019
Barb O
Exercise Demo

Vacation Workouts Made Easy--Part 5 Glute Bridge Variations About once a month, I get requests from clients for a training plan they can do using minimal equipment while traveling in order to stay on track with their fitness program. While it’s impossible to reap all the benefits of training with the diverse equipment found at a good training facility, exercising while traveling can help people maintain the habit of exercise and prevent the loss of fitness gains, especially during extended time away from traditional training. One of the simplest things that can be done is to just be active. Use the stairs instead of the elevator when traveling, park at the back of parking lots, walk or ride a bike…

Vacation Workouts Made Easy–Part 4

November 20, 2019
Barb O
Exercise Demo

Vacation Workouts Made Easy--Part 4 One Leg Romanian Deadlift About once a month, I get requests from clients for a training plan they can do using minimal equipment while traveling in order to stay on track with their fitness program. While it’s impossible to reap all the benefits of training with the diverse equipment found at a good training facility, exercising while traveling can help people maintain the habit of exercise and prevent the loss of fitness gains, especially during extended time away from traditional training. One of the simplest things that can be done is to just be active. Use the stairs instead of the elevator when traveling, park at the back of parking lots, walk or ride a…

Life In The Lateral Lane–Lateral Lunges

October 14, 2019
Barb O
Exercise Demo

Life In The Lateral Lane Better Motor Control With Medicine Ball Lateral Lunges Most gym activities are front to back movement patterns. We call this sagittal plane training. Running, elliptical training, and biking, all are predominantly sagittal plane activities. In athletics and daily activities, a great deal of movement is side to side or frontal plane movement. Most of the motor control issues we find in physical therapy and fitness clients involve poor control of side to side (frontal plane) movement patterns. The lateral lunge with a medicine ball is a simple exercise that will resolve many of these problems. Read the rest of this article and watch the video. Medicine Ball Lateral Lunges: I like fitness activities that develop…

May 2019 Newsletter

June 14, 2019
Barb O
Newsletters

In this month’s issue, Mike O’Hara tells you which exercises to do to preserve your knees. We learn how reaching fitness goals can have its ups and downs in “The Straight and Narrow”. Jeff Tirrell tells the importance of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Download Here

Traveling Posterior Lunge

Traveling Posterior Lunge Pattern Practice Warm Up Improving and or maintaining movement skill should be a primary goal of any fitness program. Pattern practice is the term we use in physical therapy to describe training to improve movement. Ongoing dedication to many repetitions of a beneficial movement pattern builds the neuromuscular hardware that keeps the body graceful and injury resistant. The best pattern practice activities require a level of mental engagement. You most focus on the movement or you will not be successful. Read the article and watch the video for a demonstration of the traveling posterior lunge. Physical therapist Gray Cook uses the term “loaded yoga” to describe mindful movement training. The traveling posterior lunge is a drill that…